ANANDAMAYI MA (1896-1982) is among the most recognized and beloved Hindu saints of the 20th century Through her wisdom, joy, and compassion, has inspired millions of individuals of diverse faiths and circumstances—from Prime Ministers, industrialists, and artists, to shopkeepers, beggars, and monks. Her admirers included Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Jawarharlal Nehru, former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Queen Frederika of Greece, and the former President of India, Rajendra Prasad. ‘The reverberation of her spiritual presence continues to be felt strongly to this day.

“She is like the GHanges…. Her very touch purifies.”

“1 had found many men of God-realizations in India, but never before had I met such an exalted woman saint”

“Anandamayi Ma was the living embodiment of devotion and love. Just with a glimpse of Her, countless problems were solved Her spiritually powerful personality was a source of great guidance for all human beings I offer my homage to Her!” “Anandamayi Ma was one of the most radiant spiritual luminaries of our age. She properly belongs? Song side such figures as Paramahanse Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi as an exemplar of quintessential Hindu spirituality She remains too little known in the West—a situation which, we may hope, will be remedied by the appearance of this splendid and important volume.”

ALEXANDER LIPSKI is a Professor Emeritus of California State University He is the author of 7homas Merton and Asia: His Quest for Utopia, and is the editor of Bengal: East and West. His now classic Lift and Teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma was first published in India where it has been reprinted numerous times.

About the Author

Alexander Lipski was Professore of History and religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach from 1958 to 1984, and is currently Professor Emeritus. He is the author of Thomas Merton and Asia: His Quest for Utopia, and is the editor of Bengal: East and West. His book Life and Teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma was first published in India where it has been reprinted numerous times.

Joseph A. Fitzgerald studied comparative religion at Indiana University, where he also earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. For more than twenty years he has traveled extensively to traditional including South Asia and India. He has previously edited Honen the Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography.

About the Book

It is an engaging, concise, and spiritually senditive biography of Anandamayi Ma based on both thorough research and personal contact. It provides us with and insightful interpretation of the significance of anandamayi Mia’s personality and teaching. An edited rendering of Professore Lipski’s writings on Anandamayi Ma beings the present volume, forming the first and second chapter. No work on anandamayi Ma would, however, be complete without the inclision of her actual words. To that end, the third and largest chapter of the present volume provides edited selections from Ma’s discourses, r3ecorded by Brahmacari Kamal Bhattacharjee, and later translated into English by Atmananda, both close devotees. This biography by Professor Lipski along with the actual words of Anandamayi Ma creates as complete a verbal representation as is possible of a woman who was herself beyond the level of duality, and thus, ultimately, beyond all description.

Preface

We wish to express our thanks the Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha and to Motilal Banarsidass Publishers for allowing us to produce the present work, in which two important books are and combined into a single account of the life and teachings of the great twentieth century saint of India, Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), the bliss-permeated Mother.

In his book Life and teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma, published by Motilal Banarsidass, Professor Alexander Lipski2 offers us an engaging, concise, and spiritually sensitive biography of Anandamayi Ma that is based on both thorough research and personal contact. Professor Lipski further provides us with an insightful interpretation of the significance of her personality and message. A rendering of Professor Lipski’s work begins the present volume, forming the first and second chapters. No portrait of Anandamayi Ma would be complete, however, without the inclusion of her actual words. To that end, the third and largest chapter of the present volume provides selections from Ma’s discourses, recorded by Brahmacari Kamal Bhattacharjee, and later translated into English by Atmãnanda, both close devotees. These discourses were published by the Shree Anandamayee Sangha under the title Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma. We believe that the biography by Professor Lipski together with Ma’s own words creates as complete a verbal representation as is possible of a woman who was herself beyond the level of duality, and thus, ultimately, beyond all description.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to meet Anandamayi Mã—and there are many fortunate ones still living—knows that something of her teaching is in her very person. Thus we have chosen to illustrate this volume with photographs taken of her over the course of her life, from youth to old age. It is said that one receives a blessing of presence through the darsana (literally “sight”) of a saint: May the bliss—permeated Mother bless us by her presence!

Introduction

“Just imagine that a tree—a beautiful, strong, old beech for instance approaches you with calm steps. What would you feel? ‘Have I gone crazy,’ you would ask yourself. ‘Or perhaps I am dreaming?’ Finally you would have to concede that you had entered a new dimension of reality of which you had hitherto been ignorant.” Thus the German novelist Melita Maschmann sums up her first impressions of Anandamayi Ma (bliss-permeated Mother).

There is no question that Anandamayi Ma is a spiritual giant who rightfully takes Her place among the great saints of modern India, such as Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Ramana Maharshi, and Paramahansa Yogananda. Her life is an eloquent testimony to the abiding strength of Indian spirituality Her message is particularly appropriate in a world where the notion of progress is no longer taken for gospel truth and the whole array of our “modern values” is undergoing an agonizing reappraisal. Anandamayi Ma diagnoses the present disease of civilization as “over-secularization.” She suggests that the cure from our severe illness cannot be brought about by engineers, sociologists, or psychologists but by doctors of the soul. She prescribes a drastic revolution in our views and attitudes from out wardness to inwardness, from materialism to spiritualit and from man-centeredness to God-centeredness. Her totally uncompromising transcendent point of view is truly a shock therapy for problem-solving oriented, pragmatic Americans. She shows no apparent concern for the population explosion, environmental pollution, racism, political tensions, economic crises. And yet, as one of Her disciples expressed it, the purpose of Her being is. -. to demonstrate the existence of a power that is ever at work creating by Its transforming influence, beauty out of ugliness, love out of strife. Such a power is Sri Anandamayi Ma. May She bring peace and harmony into this world of strife.”

I first got interested in Anandamayi Ma while reading about Her in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. Subsequently, I met several Americans who had visited Anandainayl Mi f extended periods of time. In 1965, while spending my sabbatical leave in India, I visited Her ãsram in Varanasi and then stayed with Anandarnayi Ma in Rajgir, the capital of an ancient Indian state.. When I was brought into the presence of Anandamayi Ma I felt that, for the first time in my life, I was encountering someone who was the very embodiment of the Holy, the “wholly other.” And yet Anandamayi Ma was also so close and accessible. She immediately welcomed me with a loving smile signifying total acceptance. In Her simple, unaffected way She asked me about my family and with genuine interest looked at the photos of my wife and my three daughters. She then gave me the privilege of sitting near Her. During the ensuing satsanga2 I had an opportunity to observe her at close quarters. I was struck by the youthful almost girlish appearance of the then sixty-nine year old Anandamayi Ma. It was a delight to listen to Her pearly laughter, and I was struck by the ease and assurance with which the almost if iterate Anandamayi Ma responded to the most recondite questions of erudite scholars. A highlight of my stay with Anandamayi Ma was my personal interview during which I was alone with Her except for the presence of an interpreter. Facing Mãtãji3 I felt as though I was mentally stripped naked. It seemed to me that she could see into the innermost recesses of my mind. I asked Her to tell me what the chief obstacles on my spiritual path were. In response She revealed to e some glaring shortcomings of which I had been hitherto totally unaware. What She said was in no way flattering, in fact painful, but Anandamayi Ma said it so compassionately, although firmly, that I did not feel condemned. I realized what true loving detachment was.

The days at Anandamayi Ma’s asram flew by. ‘Throughout my stay I had a feeling of utter contentment and peace—worldly problems were temporarily eclipsed. As though in the presence of a gigantic spiritual magnet my mind was engrossed in the Divine. When thinking of the blissful experiences in Rajgir, there flashes even now through my mind a scene of a kirtana4 with Mataji And I hear Her chanting “He Bhagavan” (Oh, Lord) to the accompaniment of a harmonium. Her chanting is the very expression of divine love and ecstasy andprompts me to echo the words of the Persian inscription on the Diwan-i-Khas:5

If on Earth be an Eden of bliss
it is this, it is this, none but this.

While I had a limited knowledge of Hindi at the time of my visit to Anandamayi Ma I decided then and there to take up the study of Bengali, to be able to become acquainted in depth with the life and teaching of Mataji. ‘Through the kind assistance of Mr. K. Bose, Secretary of Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangba,6 I was able to procure most of the literature in Bengali and English dealing with Anandamayi Ma.The more I immersed myself in the life and thought of the bliss-permeated Mother, the clearer it became to me that many people in the west could profit from Her wisdom. I discussed Anandamayi Ma during my lectures on modern Hindu religious thought I was impressed by the enthusiastic response of the students who eagerly asked for more information about the bliss-permeated Mother. This prompted me to undertake the present study. Writing on the life and teaching of Anandamayi Ma was a privilege in itself, but I am filled with gladness at the thought that through this study Mataji will become better known and that many spiritual seekers who have become aware of the emptiness of a mere materialistic existence will find renewed meaningfulness.

Contents

Preface by Joseph A. Fitzgerald

vii

Preface by Joseph A. Fitzgerald

vii

Introduction by Alexander Lipski

ix

I

Play of Life

3

II

Personality and Teachings

47

III

Selected Discourses

83

Appendix I: Further Discourses on Spiritual Practice

132

Appendix II: A Special Day of Devotion

135

Glossary of Common Sanskrit Terms

136

Index

139

Biographical Notes

141

Sample Pages

The Essential Sri Anandamayi Ma (Life and Teachings of a 20th Century Indian Saint)

ANANDAMAYI MA (1896-1982) is among the most recognized and beloved Hindu saints of the 20th century Through her wisdom, joy, and compassion, has inspired millions of individuals of diverse faiths and circumstances—from Prime Ministers, industrialists, and artists, to shopkeepers, beggars, and monks. Her admirers included Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Jawarharlal Nehru, former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Queen Frederika of Greece, and the former President of India, Rajendra Prasad. ‘The reverberation of her spiritual presence continues to be felt strongly to this day.

“She is like the GHanges…. Her very touch purifies.”

“1 had found many men of God-realizations in India, but never before had I met such an exalted woman saint”

“Anandamayi Ma was the living embodiment of devotion and love. Just with a glimpse of Her, countless problems were solved Her spiritually powerful personality was a source of great guidance for all human beings I offer my homage to Her!” “Anandamayi Ma was one of the most radiant spiritual luminaries of our age. She properly belongs? Song side such figures as Paramahanse Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi as an exemplar of quintessential Hindu spirituality She remains too little known in the West—a situation which, we may hope, will be remedied by the appearance of this splendid and important volume.”

ALEXANDER LIPSKI is a Professor Emeritus of California State University He is the author of 7homas Merton and Asia: His Quest for Utopia, and is the editor of Bengal: East and West. His now classic Lift and Teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma was first published in India where it has been reprinted numerous times.

About the Author

Alexander Lipski was Professore of History and religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach from 1958 to 1984, and is currently Professor Emeritus. He is the author of Thomas Merton and Asia: His Quest for Utopia, and is the editor of Bengal: East and West. His book Life and Teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma was first published in India where it has been reprinted numerous times.

Joseph A. Fitzgerald studied comparative religion at Indiana University, where he also earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. For more than twenty years he has traveled extensively to traditional including South Asia and India. He has previously edited Honen the Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography.

About the Book

It is an engaging, concise, and spiritually senditive biography of Anandamayi Ma based on both thorough research and personal contact. It provides us with and insightful interpretation of the significance of anandamayi Mia’s personality and teaching. An edited rendering of Professore Lipski’s writings on Anandamayi Ma beings the present volume, forming the first and second chapter. No work on anandamayi Ma would, however, be complete without the inclision of her actual words. To that end, the third and largest chapter of the present volume provides edited selections from Ma’s discourses, r3ecorded by Brahmacari Kamal Bhattacharjee, and later translated into English by Atmananda, both close devotees. This biography by Professor Lipski along with the actual words of Anandamayi Ma creates as complete a verbal representation as is possible of a woman who was herself beyond the level of duality, and thus, ultimately, beyond all description.

Preface

We wish to express our thanks the Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha and to Motilal Banarsidass Publishers for allowing us to produce the present work, in which two important books are and combined into a single account of the life and teachings of the great twentieth century saint of India, Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), the bliss-permeated Mother.

In his book Life and teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma, published by Motilal Banarsidass, Professor Alexander Lipski2 offers us an engaging, concise, and spiritually sensitive biography of Anandamayi Ma that is based on both thorough research and personal contact. Professor Lipski further provides us with an insightful interpretation of the significance of her personality and message. A rendering of Professor Lipski’s work begins the present volume, forming the first and second chapters. No portrait of Anandamayi Ma would be complete, however, without the inclusion of her actual words. To that end, the third and largest chapter of the present volume provides selections from Ma’s discourses, recorded by Brahmacari Kamal Bhattacharjee, and later translated into English by Atmãnanda, both close devotees. These discourses were published by the Shree Anandamayee Sangha under the title Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma. We believe that the biography by Professor Lipski together with Ma’s own words creates as complete a verbal representation as is possible of a woman who was herself beyond the level of duality, and thus, ultimately, beyond all description.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to meet Anandamayi Mã—and there are many fortunate ones still living—knows that something of her teaching is in her very person. Thus we have chosen to illustrate this volume with photographs taken of her over the course of her life, from youth to old age. It is said that one receives a blessing of presence through the darsana (literally “sight”) of a saint: May the bliss—permeated Mother bless us by her presence!

Introduction

“Just imagine that a tree—a beautiful, strong, old beech for instance approaches you with calm steps. What would you feel? ‘Have I gone crazy,’ you would ask yourself. ‘Or perhaps I am dreaming?’ Finally you would have to concede that you had entered a new dimension of reality of which you had hitherto been ignorant.” Thus the German novelist Melita Maschmann sums up her first impressions of Anandamayi Ma (bliss-permeated Mother).

There is no question that Anandamayi Ma is a spiritual giant who rightfully takes Her place among the great saints of modern India, such as Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Ramana Maharshi, and Paramahansa Yogananda. Her life is an eloquent testimony to the abiding strength of Indian spirituality Her message is particularly appropriate in a world where the notion of progress is no longer taken for gospel truth and the whole array of our “modern values” is undergoing an agonizing reappraisal. Anandamayi Ma diagnoses the present disease of civilization as “over-secularization.” She suggests that the cure from our severe illness cannot be brought about by engineers, sociologists, or psychologists but by doctors of the soul. She prescribes a drastic revolution in our views and attitudes from out wardness to inwardness, from materialism to spiritualit and from man-centeredness to God-centeredness. Her totally uncompromising transcendent point of view is truly a shock therapy for problem-solving oriented, pragmatic Americans. She shows no apparent concern for the population explosion, environmental pollution, racism, political tensions, economic crises. And yet, as one of Her disciples expressed it, the purpose of Her being is. -. to demonstrate the existence of a power that is ever at work creating by Its transforming influence, beauty out of ugliness, love out of strife. Such a power is Sri Anandamayi Ma. May She bring peace and harmony into this world of strife.”

I first got interested in Anandamayi Ma while reading about Her in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. Subsequently, I met several Americans who had visited Anandainayl Mi f extended periods of time. In 1965, while spending my sabbatical leave in India, I visited Her ãsram in Varanasi and then stayed with Anandarnayi Ma in Rajgir, the capital of an ancient Indian state.. When I was brought into the presence of Anandamayi Ma I felt that, for the first time in my life, I was encountering someone who was the very embodiment of the Holy, the “wholly other.” And yet Anandamayi Ma was also so close and accessible. She immediately welcomed me with a loving smile signifying total acceptance. In Her simple, unaffected way She asked me about my family and with genuine interest looked at the photos of my wife and my three daughters. She then gave me the privilege of sitting near Her. During the ensuing satsanga2 I had an opportunity to observe her at close quarters. I was struck by the youthful almost girlish appearance of the then sixty-nine year old Anandamayi Ma. It was a delight to listen to Her pearly laughter, and I was struck by the ease and assurance with which the almost if iterate Anandamayi Ma responded to the most recondite questions of erudite scholars. A highlight of my stay with Anandamayi Ma was my personal interview during which I was alone with Her except for the presence of an interpreter. Facing Mãtãji3 I felt as though I was mentally stripped naked. It seemed to me that she could see into the innermost recesses of my mind. I asked Her to tell me what the chief obstacles on my spiritual path were. In response She revealed to e some glaring shortcomings of which I had been hitherto totally unaware. What She said was in no way flattering, in fact painful, but Anandamayi Ma said it so compassionately, although firmly, that I did not feel condemned. I realized what true loving detachment was.

The days at Anandamayi Ma’s asram flew by. ‘Throughout my stay I had a feeling of utter contentment and peace—worldly problems were temporarily eclipsed. As though in the presence of a gigantic spiritual magnet my mind was engrossed in the Divine. When thinking of the blissful experiences in Rajgir, there flashes even now through my mind a scene of a kirtana4 with Mataji And I hear Her chanting “He Bhagavan” (Oh, Lord) to the accompaniment of a harmonium. Her chanting is the very expression of divine love and ecstasy andprompts me to echo the words of the Persian inscription on the Diwan-i-Khas:5

If on Earth be an Eden of bliss
it is this, it is this, none but this.

While I had a limited knowledge of Hindi at the time of my visit to Anandamayi Ma I decided then and there to take up the study of Bengali, to be able to become acquainted in depth with the life and teaching of Mataji. ‘Through the kind assistance of Mr. K. Bose, Secretary of Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangba,6 I was able to procure most of the literature in Bengali and English dealing with Anandamayi Ma.The more I immersed myself in the life and thought of the bliss-permeated Mother, the clearer it became to me that many people in the west could profit from Her wisdom. I discussed Anandamayi Ma during my lectures on modern Hindu religious thought I was impressed by the enthusiastic response of the students who eagerly asked for more information about the bliss-permeated Mother. This prompted me to undertake the present study. Writing on the life and teaching of Anandamayi Ma was a privilege in itself, but I am filled with gladness at the thought that through this study Mataji will become better known and that many spiritual seekers who have become aware of the emptiness of a mere materialistic existence will find renewed meaningfulness.

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Sadasivanathaswami, Hawaii

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